


The Usual

by Woodpeltneko (Woodpelt_the_pussycat)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Athazagoraphobia, Author Projecting onto Taako (The Adventure Zone), Depersonalization, Derealization, Dissociation, Domestic, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grounding, Hair Braiding, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Light Angst, Lots of confusion, Non-Verbal Character, Sign Language, Sort Of, Taako wants to hit his head to ground himself but he doesnt, Wordcount: 500-1.000, executive disfunction, fantasy Netflix, fear of forgetting, implied/referenced trauma, mention of posession, oh yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24861754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woodpelt_the_pussycat/pseuds/Woodpeltneko
Summary: Taako dissociates hard. Lup to the rescue. They do the usual routine.--I had a really bad dissociative episode last night so i wrote this.
Relationships: Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 100





	The Usual

He’s not quite sure when it started. 

Taako feels like he might be in the ethereal plane. He knows that he isn’t, because he can still see color. That’s how it works, right?  _ Right? _

Gods, he’s not even sure about that right now. He can’t remember and  _ oh. _ What else can’t he remember? 

_ Lup, Davenport, Lucretia, Magnus, Merle, Barry, the Starblaster, the IPRE, home, Kravitz, Ren, the school.  _ But if he forgot, he wouldn’t know, right? Usually he would panic over these thoughts. 

He’s just numb. Numb. Where is he again? What’s he looking at? 

He’s looking at a circle. No, that’s not it. It’s a cylinder- Oh, it’s a pot. In the pot is, uh… something? Some sort of liquid? He’s not sure. It doesn’t smell like anything. Or… maybe it’s just very faint? He sees a hand, in front of him, turning the stove off. It looks familiar. Lup, maybe? 

He wants to ask for her, to just ask her name, but his mouth won’t open. With great effort he turns his body to that side. There’s no one there. But who turned off the stove? He looks back to where he had seen the hand, and he follows the arm up. He finds it attached to the same body as he is in. That’s not possible, he didn’t do that. How could that have been him? 

Is… is he possessed? That’s not possible, right? Well, but Lup and Barry can possess people… 

He wants to ask her name again, but his mouth still won’t open. 

He’s sitting now, when did that happen? He can vaguely feel a tug on his hair. Is it caught on something?

Now he can feel stone under his fingers. He presses in because it’s one of the only things he’s aware of right now. 

“Taako?” Where’s the voice coming from? He’s not sure. It’s too quiet to be in the room with him. 

“Taako, are you there?” Can’t they see that he can’t open his mouth? He manages control over his hand, bringing it up and forcing his jaws apart. He bites down on his fingers and still can’t talk or control his mouth. 

“Taako?” They sound worried. “Where are you? Are you home?” 

He kind of wants to bang his head on the floor because he  _ still can’t fucking talk! _

“I’m coming home, Taako, I’ll be there in just a second.”

There’s a ripping sound. 

“Oh, Taako…” the voice sounds a bit clearer now. He doesn’t know who it is, but they feel safe. There’s movement, and then something is in front of him. 

“Koko, it’s okay. You’re safe, we’re safe. Can you hold this for me?” They take his hand and push something into his palm. He closes his hand around it instinctually. 

“Koko, I’m going to do the usual, okay?” He doesn’t know what the “usual” is. He feels them (her? Her sounds right) move to one side of him. 

“You’re Taako. You live with your boyfriend Kravitz, me- your sister Lup-, and my husband Barry. You run a school with your friend Ren, and you like cooking. You’re the best transmutation wizard in existence. You, Magnus, Merle, Dav, and Lucretia beat the Hunger about two years ago.” She presses a hand to his shoulder. 

His hand feels cold. Why does his hand feel cold? 

“Your name is Taako, you’re my brother, we’re elves, and you’re the best transmutation wizard in existence. You like to cook. You have a boyfriend named Kravitz, and he’s the grim reaper.”

Taako looks at her finally. She’s there. He’s not quite sure if  _ he _ is, but she’s talking to him, isn’t she? Why  _ is _ his hand cold? Oh, she gave him an ice cube to hold. That’s nice. He squeezes it a little.

“Hi, Taako,” Lup says in an even voice.

He pulls his fingers out of his mouth, and still not finding his voice, waves a little. 

“Are you going to be okay now?”

He shrugs.

“What were you cooking?” she asks, trying to bring him back a little more.

He considers this for a moment. He shrugs.

She stands up, and he grabs her wrist. “I’m not leaving, Koko, just gotta stand up.” 

He stands up, not letting go of her. 

“Hm, looks like chicken soup,” Lup says. “I could finish cooking this for you.”

He presses closer to her. Lup gives him a tight hug. 

“Do you want to sit on the couch, Ko?”

Taako nods, squeezing her arm. She leads him over to the couch, sitting with him curled into her side. She plays with his hair. 

After a few minutes, she taps his shoulder to get his attention. “How are you feeling, Ko?”

He looks up at her, squirms his hands free and signs at her in common sign. _ “I’ll be okay. I still need contact.”  _

She nods. “Let’s turn on some Fantasy Netflix, hm?”

He just gives her a thumbs up. 

She turns a show on, and he tries to focus on it. He presses into her, fidgeting with her sleeves. Then he squirms into a different position.  _ “Braid my hair?” _

“Sure, Koko,” Lup answers, shifting to run her hands through his hair. He sighs quietly. She separates his hair, brushing through it with her fingers, and starts the repetitive pattern. 

Just as she finishes the braid, Kravitz comes home. 

Taako waves at him, still not ready to use his voice. Kravitz comes over, kisses Taako on the forehead, and sits down next to them. “How are you, Taako?”

_ “Better than earlier. Was dissociating really hard earlier. Lup helped.” _ He takes Kravitz’s hand after that.

Kravitz hums gentle acknowledgement. 

“Barry working late?” Lup asks. 

“Yeah, just a bit more paperwork tonight, he should be home soon,” Kravitz answers. 

Taako leans into Kravitz, feeling more real by the second. 


End file.
